United States v. Robert v. Snowadzki

Snowadzki appeals from a conviction on two counts of filing false tax returns. The convictions resulted from his failure to report income gained from private sales of airplane engines. He contends that his conviction must be reversed because the government presented documents that were illegally seized by Pugh, a fellow employee. We hold that Pugh did not act as a government agent when he took the documents and affirm.

FACTS

Snowadzki is a Portland businessman involved in the sale of aircraft parts and accessories. In the years material to the indictment, he worked as Portland branch supervisor for Cooper Aeromotive which is engaged primarily in the sale of new aircraft engines, parts, and accessories.

In addition to his corporate duties, Snowadzki privately engaged in the resale of used aircraft engines, or “cores.” He maintained a log of these outside transactions and openly discussed them with other Cooper employees, but never reported the sales to the IRS.

On April 12, 1979, another Cooper employee, Keith Pugh, called the IRS and told an agent that Snowadzki had significant unreported income. Pugh described Snowadzki’s activities and asked if copies of Snowadzki’s records…